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Dropped round detonation


G-ManBart

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Okay, many people have heard the stories about being at the range, having an empty from your gun hit a box of live ammo (usually in the styrofoam tray) causing one of the live rounds to go off and not everyone believes it. Well, this was a bit different, but still worth knowing about.

When I load a batch of ammo I put all of the rounds in a box and an empty box next to it. I sit down with my case gauge and check each round, dropping it in the empty box if it's good. I'd estimate my hand to be 12-18" over the top of the box. I was doing this tonight when one of the dropped rounds bounced, hit another round and one of the two detonated. :surprise: The bullet went through the side of the box and stopped 2-3 feet away, half of the case (bottom half) put a half inch dent in the ceiling and the rest was in a couple of pieces on the floor. I was wearing eye protection and only had to deal with some ringing in my ears. The half of the case that went into the ceiling could have easily blinded someone not wearing glasses.

I wouldn't have thought a gentle drop from a foot could have caused this, but sure as heck it did. I can't count how many live rounds I've seen dropped and not a one has gone off. I know it takes a lot of things to line up perfectly for this to happen, but it's possible. I'll try to post pics of the remains later. R,

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I was at a match when a competitor started to unload his mags into a ziplock bag and one of the rounds detonated when as it landed in the bag. Everyone was sure that he must have been handling his gun behind the line, but luckily he was not even wearing a gun.

Federal primers are soft to hammers and anything else that hits them.

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Bart, glad you're still here to tell us about it :blink: Hope that stain in your pants comes out.

Now I'm concerned. I dump all my loaded ammo (with federal primers) into a large plastic bin. I mean literally dump from the small bin on the Dillon. I always have 3 to 4 thousand rounds in the large bin at anytime. When it's time to go shoot, I just grap a few handfulls and put in a tupperware bowl that goes in my rangebag.

Now I'm thinking that large bin is very heavy and hard to lift and all the weight of those bullets on top of each other and the pressure that it must be placing on the primers on bottom :o

I gotta go re-think this one.

DonT

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Okay, many people have heard the stories about being at the range, having an empty from your gun hit a box of live ammo (usually in the styrofoam tray) causing one of the live rounds to go off and not everyone believes it. Well, this was a bit different, but still worth knowing about.

When I load a batch of ammo I put all of the rounds in a box and an empty box next to it. I sit down with my case gauge and check each round, dropping it in the empty box if it's good. I'd estimate my hand to be 12-18" over the top of the box. I was doing this tonight when one of the dropped rounds bounced, hit another round and one of the two detonated. :surprise: The bullet went through the side of the box and stopped 2-3 feet away, half of the case (bottom half) put a half inch dent in the ceiling and the rest was in a couple of pieces on the floor. I was wearing eye protection and only had to deal with some ringing in my ears. The half of the case that went into the ceiling could have easily blinded someone not wearing glasses.

I wouldn't have thought a gentle drop from a foot could have caused this, but sure as heck it did. I can't count how many live rounds I've seen dropped and not a one has gone off. I know it takes a lot of things to line up perfectly for this to happen, but it's possible. I'll try to post pics of the remains later. R,

I often say, just cause it never happens does not mean it can't happen. Glad your ok

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In my meager experience:

In 1980 something I was on the 88th ARCOM team, shooting conventional 3-gun pistol (bullseye) at Camp Robinson, a team mate set a box of .45 acp match ball on his gun box. Then he picked up the box with the ammo on it to set it on the bench. The box of ammo slid off the gun box when he did this and landed on the concrete beneath the benches. The box was blown open and rounds were scattered everywhere. Mark was startled, and so were the people were down range repairing targets. I told them what I had seen happen, and there were some dubious looks, but no guns were out of the boxes, and the ammo was laying hither and yon on the ground.

About twenty minutes of investigation by several Soldiers determined that the box had landed flat and a slight protrusion in the surface of the concrete had detonated that primer. The case was recovered it was split open like the shotgun barrel in an Elmer Fudd cartoon. The projectile penetrated the 1/2" plywood bench top and was recovered near the 25 yard targets. We are certain that this was the bullet as it had no rifling marks on it.

I think the box contained the case just enough to allow the pressure to build up sufficiently to send the bullet through the bench and upward to land near the turning targets.

Fast forward to the 90's I am shooting USPSA in the Atlanta area. I had recently had a primer explosion in a Star reloader, and was describing it. I was pretty cavalier about it. Maryanne, and the Noyes called me on it and told me this story:

A fellow from that area who shot USPSA had loaded a large quantity of ammo and was chamber checking each round in the barrel of his competition gun. He would drop each round would drop into the chamber up barrel. If it went in far enough to have its base even with or below the chamber up barrel hood he would turn the barrel with his wrist and drop the round into a bucket.

He dropped one and it went off, the round penetrated his face and he lost that eye. He was not even aware of the extent of the damage until he finally went to the doctor sometime later. Everyone there knew the individual this happened to by name. I have forgotten that detail, but I remember the lesson in the proper care of loaded ammunition.

That is two experiences in my 40 years of shooting. I wonder if we could track them just how many of these actually have take place in the past 40 years.

Yep, I do not tumble live ammunition anymore either!

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"Now about tumbling loaded rounds...."
I've long told people that this was an insane practice, but nobody took it seriously. <_<

I would NEVER tumble live ammo... for ANY reason. :surprise:

"I pour loaded ammo from bucket to bucket like it was corn or something."
AAARRGGHHH..!!!! :blink:
"How in the world do we live to grow old...."
Sheer dumb luck. :unsure:
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Here are a couple of pics. The first shows the pieces and the second shows where the round hit the primer. It's not very clear, but it appears that the edge of the rim of the dropped round hit the primer nearly dead center. The third pic is the hole in the ceiling. Luckily Mrs. G-Man was on the other side of the house and thought that one of the dogs had knocked something over!

post-10163-1196138105.jpgpost-10163-1196138322.jpgpost-10163-1196138410.jpg

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I've posted this before but its appropriate here.

Long ago one of my sons was shooting a match with me, at "unload and show clear" his ejected round hit a piece of brass on the ground and detonated. No one hurt, but everyone jumped!

There's a million ways this sort of thing can happen, ALWAYS wear eye protection.

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Here are a couple of pics. The first shows the pieces and the second shows where the round hit the primer. It's not very clear, but it appears that the edge of the rim of the dropped round hit the primer nearly dead center. The third pic is the hole in the ceiling. Luckily Mrs. G-Man was on the other side of the house and thought that one of the dogs had knocked something over!

post-10163-1196138105.jpgpost-10163-1196138322.jpgpost-10163-1196138410.jpg

Where's the picture of your shorts?!! :goof: Glad you're ok - I do the same thing you do when I QC my rounds and have for about 20 years.... One in a million chance, but it's something to surely think about!!

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